.
Couple of months later another journal needed and no-where like Kinokuniya for fab stationery — kid in a lolly-shop in there. The books another matter. Difficult to buy a book at the best of times; in a contemporary book-store especially difficult. (Briefly and in passing: nothing has dislodged the top shelf of Essential Reads at Kinokuniya in the Takashimaya building on Orchard Road. As was the case two months ago, and two months before that too, the illustrious roll-call remains unchanged: Emma, Black Beauty & The Secret Garden. All out of copyright, could be the factor. The chain printing their own editions and creaming it with bucolic tales of easeful love for the hungry readership in Singapore.... Took a while for the penny to drop.)
Same Marks & Spencer pavement cafe as two months before, elevated from the sidewalk. A perch with none to compare.... There might have been a Marine on Rec Leave in the bookstore with wife and bub leafing through some of the product on the display tables. Possibly merely a banker keeping in shape.
On the Tang pagoda-like roof inserts the jade fading marginally. Purposely for the patina? The architectural play with the surface cover of concrete and steel here on Orchard second to none. The brightest brains involved.
The volume of the ads from the screen opposite calibrated for the traffic; serving a useful masking function too. Nice syncopation effect with the churning machinery and rapid gear switches of movie highlights one after another.
Motorized wheel-chair girl with amplified wind instrument passing the audition at City Hall for the prime spot back up on the Takashimaya corner opposite the larger, vertical screen. Two months ago most certainly she wasn't there. Always tinkering with the mix here, keeping it fresh, staying ahead of the game. Council lads due for another audit — she's cranked up the volume in the duel with the traffic and distorting without hearing. Skiing possibly or bungee jumping, if not coming to grief on these roads. Not difficult to see the sense in a deft touch such as this, like the retro element of the trishaw pushcart uncles with their ice-cream snacks.
Hostage rescued from the Taliban on the march over some rugged terrain. One of the Special Forces guys, Navy Seals or as the case may be, over-stepping the mark and getting a whack of a slap — you don't notice the acoustic with the sudden camera jolt. Sent flying. That'll teach him how to treat a lady, even under duress. No excuses. Gal like that gunna take no nonsense from no one. Kinda lass you could take home to meet Mom, if they ever get outta that pickle in one piece. (Scruffy unshaven Taliban fellas raising the bar pretty high as opponents for heroics.)
The old red-ragger Michael Foot with the mane of white from the back recesses of memory. Good to recall the long-forgotten old serviceable rebel. Must have been railing against the Falklands flotilla, sole voice in Parliament, the conscience of the house demonstrating the best of our democracy. Great hair-dressing on Meryl, certain Oscar for costuming and make-up.
Veolia gutter-sweep undergone a recent uniform inspection. Passed muster handsomely. Impressive laundering. A sizable shock for her to see her colleagues on Geylang Road unbuttoned to the navel, grimy, long extended spit gobs in the gutter like for a circus act.
Safe House. More action laid on. Every day the shoot delayed on the Osama @ Abbottabad a lost opportunity for these cinaplexes. With some decent luck — no more tsunamis or power station meltdowns, untimely Iranian heroics — a clear run might have them going all the way to Christmas and not out of the question into the New Year. Timed for Obama's re-election campaign, stills of the Operations Hub bunker at the Pentagon cut with the re-creation in the advertising.
In the Land of Blood and Honey looks more terrorism (balanced).
This is the spot par excellence for the Martian landing. A half hour here, dusted down and presentable, the survey of humanity in a nutshell. Paterson and Orchard Roads corner, premier shopping strip in the world. (See the official confirmation in the first Orchard Road posting of Friday 9 December 2011.)
Coffee Club name of the place, 501 Orchard. (Possible Levis outlet in the bowels.) Finally got to the bottom of the charging mystery. The standard Latte confirmed $6 flat. However, 10% Service Charge and then 7% GST brings it up to S$7.06. Thank heavens for the Oz $ and the Chinese raw material trade. (A few days ago the Oz 74c to the Sing. — three years ago 10c under.)
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